I used to work the lottery machine when I worked in a supermarket.
It was kind of fun by supermarket standards, as it was attached to the little tobacconists kiosk where you could chat to people and move about. Not exactly a thrill ride but it beats sitting down for up to four hours on your own at a regular checkout.

One evening I was having a good time idly constructing a house out of packets of Marlborough lights for a proud race of tic tac people under the counter when I was rudely interrupted by someone wanting to buy something (the nerve!).

"thirty quids worth of scratchcards mate" said a bespectacled middle aged man.

I had never seen anyone buy this many in one go before and I assumed I had misheard until he slapped some notes on the counter. Wordlessly he scratched them off in front of me with a key.

"here this ones won a fiver"

I went to the till thinking what a waste of 25 pounds.

"never mind the cash, just give me another scratch card, one of the big ones*"

he scratched that one off, and lost. He shrugged and simply said "well that's this weeks dole gone then" and walked out like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I quit my job soon after but I still remember this night very clearly. I never gamble for money, each time my mates ask me if I want in on a hand of poker I cant help think of this guy.

I'm not some puritan who thinks that gambling is a sin, Its your money and I'm not here to judge. But that incident gave me a clear picture of those who are terminally bad at maths.



*this was when you could get those five pound scratch cards that were twice the size of regular ones.
( willenium Fist bump for verification, Sun 10 May 2009, 23:26, 1 reply)

On the subject of poker
I play poker on occasion with my friends, never for high amounts, usually a ten dollar buy-in, and the argument they make is "Well, if you went out to a pub, you'd spend that much on a couple of drinks, and have no chance of winning it back, whereas here ten bucks gets you a couple of hours entertainment and the chance that you might end up with way more money than you started with."

Which seems fair enough to me. Scratchies are just fucking dumb, though.
(oball needs Satan more than he needs me, Mon 11 May 2009, 5:17, closed)